Salem boy hero joins forces with Iron Man

Blue Ear, Iron Man team up to help children with hearing loss

UPDATED 12:25 AM EST Feb 27, 2013

NEW YORK -

A Salem boy is in the Big Apple to meet up with his favorite comic hero, Iron Man.

In 2012, Marvel Comics immortalized 5-year-old Anthony Smith as “Blue Ear,” the boy with super hearing powers. On Tuesday, Blue Ear and Iron man teamed up on a new mission to help children dealing with hearing loss.

Smith told his mother that he no longer wanted to wear his hearing aid because superheroes don’t wear them, so D’Allesandro set out to find some inspiration for her son. D’Allesandro said she emailed Marvel Comics, and its artists took up the cause, creating a superhero named Blue Ear, based on Anthony and his blue hearing aid, which is made by Phonak.

Now, Blue Ear is joining forces with Iron Man to unveil a new Marvel poster aimed at encouraging other children who live with hearing loss.

“The poster was amazing. Every kid today at the launch was given a poster to take home. Phonak’s going to take a really active role in distributing the poster to every pediatric audiology department, and it’s something they want to make available to kids who want to put it up in their bedrooms, and that was the original design,” said D’Allesandro.

D’Allesandro said her son doesn’t know just how many lives he’s touched.

“A bunch of people have taken him into their hearts, and we’ve heard from people who have all kinds of challenges, who have said, ‘This story inspired me,’ ‘Your son means something to me,’ ‘I’ve loved watching and following this story,’ and that just means the world to us,” said D’Allesandro.

The whirlwind trip continues Wednesday as Anthony and his family will get a tour of Marvel Comics.

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